I wanted to update you an important hearing tomorrow that will directly impact you and the cost of parking your EV.

As you may recall, when I wrote to you last a few weeks back there were two bills being considered. The most important one to EV drivers, which will limit free parking for EVs has passed both the House and Senate and is being considered tomorrow by a conference committee. This is the last opportunity to have your voice heard on this important bill.While no testimony will be accepted at the hearing tomorrow you can email the conferrees and let them know how you feel.

SB2746 makes a number of changes to reduce the benefits of free parking;

• Eliminates free parking for vehicles parked at an EV charging station • Limits free meter parking to 2.5 hours or the maximum amount of time the meter allows, whichever is greater • Limits free parking to 24 hours in lots such as the Airport • Ends all free EV parking in 2014

Better Place does not support this bill and, if you feel similarly, encourages you to email the Senators and Representatives on the Conference Committee. You can email the Conferees at the following email addresses;

Hi LEAFers, the best map for stations I've found so far is http://www.plugshare.com/. They also have an excellent app for smartphone. Also, seems like Volta charging stations are popping up everywhere--check out the new one at Whole Foods!

I wanted to update you an important hearing tomorrow that will directly impact you and the cost of parking your EV.

As you may recall, when I wrote to you last a few weeks back there were two bills being considered. The most important one to EV drivers, which will limit free parking for EVs has passed both the House and Senate and is being considered tomorrow by a conference committee. This is the last opportunity to have your voice heard on this important bill.While no testimony will be accepted at the hearing tomorrow you can email the conferrees and let them know how you feel.

SB2746 makes a number of changes to reduce the benefits of free parking;

• Eliminates free parking for vehicles parked at an EV charging station • Limits free meter parking to 2.5 hours or the maximum amount of time the meter allows, whichever is greater • Limits free parking to 24 hours in lots such as the Airport • Ends all free EV parking in 2014

Better Place does not support this bill and, if you feel similarly, encourages you to email the Senators and Representatives on the Conference Committee. You can email the Conferees at the following email addresses;

•Act 168 includes: •The department of transportation may adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, for the registration of, and issuance of special license plates for, electric vehicles.•An electric vehicle on which an electric vehicle license plate is affixed shall be exempt from payment of parking fees, including those collected through parking meters, charged by any state or county authority in this State, except that this exemption shall not apply: •For more than two and one-half hours of metered parking, or the maximum amount of time the meter allows, whichever is longer; or To parking fees assessed in increments longer than one twenty-four-hour day, including weekly, monthly, or annual parking permits.•An electric vehicle on which an electric vehicle license plate is affixed shall be exempt from high occupancy vehicle lane restrictions.•For the purposes of this Act: Electric vehicle means : (1) A neighborhood electric vehicle; or ( 2 ) A vehicle, with four or more wheels, that draws propulsion energy from a battery with at least four kilowatt hours of energy storage capacity that can be recharged from an external source of electricity.•This Act shall take effect upon its approval and shall be repealed on June 30, 2020.

What a setback to the EV industry! Sad legislators are more concerned about squeezing out a couple of dollars from the few EVs on the road over trying to promote clean transportation.